There are times when it seems that everywhere we turn we are confronted with ill-fate or ill-fortune, and we may find that we identify with allegory of Job and feel that God is putting us to the test. In truth, however, the cause exists within the karmic continuum of our soul and the play of spiritual forces in this world – our experience of ill-fate or ill-fortune reflecting our own actions, whether in this life or a past life, and it reflects the nature of this world under the dominion of ignorance (the demiurge), the illusion of separation or apparent dualism, in which there is a constant turning of the tides of fate and destiny in flow and ebb under the law of cause and effect.

On account of our negative actions in the past, negative situations, circumstances and events transpire in the present, and in the same way, based upon our actions in the present, the reality of our future is being shaped by our actions now – in the midst of apparent ill-fate or ill-fortune, however, if we unconsciously react, rather consciously respond, we tend to perpetuate the same habitual karmic patterns of negativity that are the cause of our tribulations. Thus, we remain bound up in the same karmic continuum and, as the saying goes, “history repeats itself” until we take responsibility and learn from our mistakes, and respond differently, creatively rising to the challenges we face in faith, placing our trust and our hope in God, the True Light.

*True responsibility is response-ability: The power to respond rather that live in reaction!

In this Name of God is the power to consciously respond and to dispel the negative karma within and behind situations, circumstances and events of ill-fortune, and thus to bring the karmic continuum to an end.

In the midst of the playing out of our karmic continuum, of course, there is also the play of spiritual forces – the influences of klippot that seek to obstruct our reception of the flow of blessings and good that God intends for us; calling upon this Holy Name we can shatter the klippot that are preventing the flow of blessings and uplift the divine sparks bound up in them.

Now it must be said, of course, that situations, circumstance and events of ill-fate or ill-fortune can be the result of more than just the negativity we have engendered in the past; trials and tribulations can also come from our process of awakening in the Messiah and Holy Spirit, and the ascent of our soul in the Great Exodus – there are admixed and dark forces that seek to deceive us and seek to shatter our faith and hope in the Messiah and God, the True Light, preventing our liberation from their dominion.

In this we may remember Adonai Yeshua’s double blessing in the Beatitudes upon those who experience persecution:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and also, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-11).

In this regard we may also recall the very first Beatitude:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (ibid:5:3); in this Beatitude the very same blessing is spoken as upon those who are persecuted.

Just as when ill-fate or ill-fortune has its root in our own past actions, so also when we endure trials and tribulations because of our faith, or we find that negative spiritual forces are attempting to weaken our faith and hope in the Messiah and El, we may call upon this Holy Name for empowerment to endure in faith, hope and love, and to subjugate or destroy the klippot assaulting our faith by attempting to cause consternation and despair.

The key to calling upon this Holy Name, as well as others bearing similar power, is given to us in what St. James writes:

“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Abiding in the fullness of faith, placing our hope in Adonai Messiah and El Elyon, and cultivating energized enthusiasm and joy, calling upon this Name of God it will have its full effect – and when it does, praise God and give thanks to God, and let it be the glorification of God, the True Light.

Here we must also point to another cause of appearent ill-fate or ill-fortune, for it is not always the playing out of negative karma, nor is it always exactly the persecution or assault of negative forces seeking to obstruct the soul’s enlightenment and liberation. At times souls of higher grades enter into incarnations fraught with difficult circumstances on account of the Sacred Heart of love and compassion for the sake of the harvest of souls. Essentially, they do this to take on the negative karma of souls in order to dispel it and help liberate souls from their bondage – a soul experiencing great trial and tribulation may very well be a soul that God has sent, a holy tzaddik who has come on account of love.

This is akin to the Lamed-Vau Tzaddikim – the thirty-six tzaddikim that are said to always be in the world who suffer greatly in their incarnations, taking on the suffering of others in order to relieve it, and who feel the full force of the grief and pain of the world in their hearts throughout their incarnations; likewise, it is akin to the true stigmatic mystics, who on account of the Sacred Heart of love and compassion, suffer the experience of the crucifixion with Yeshua Messiah, taking on the sins or negative karma of the world in order to dispel it.

In such cases these holy souls would not wish to call upon this Name of God for sake of themselves, because they are not seeking the relief of their own suffering; but they would call upon this Holy Name only for the sake of others, seeking to relieve the sorrow and suffering of others in any way that they can.

*In this regard, you may understand that this Holy Name can prove very powerful when joined to Giving & Receiving Meditation.

There is another power in this Holy Name – the power of conception, fertility, on all levels, whether opening the way for the experience of ivurim in the soul, removing obstructions to the experience of ivur, or our the conceptions of new ideas in our mind and creative fertility in our imagination, or in the case of barrenness in the body, when a couple may experience difficulty in conceiving a child, the power of this Holy Name may help conception become possible.

This Holy Name dispels the klippot that may obstruct and prevent conception on any level – in it is the power to radically shift the karmic matrix.

In regards to calling upon this Holy Name for the conception of a child, typically, when called upon for this reason, it is joined to mysteries of the arayot – the sexual mysticism of the Holy Kabbalah. Essentially, there are the mysteries of the hieros gamos and bridal chamber enacted as a continuum of spiritual practice between a husband and wife, or two committed partners, and innate to this practice are methods through which souls of higher grades may be drawn into incarnation; by such practices, souls having specific root essences from the World of the Holy Sefirot may even be attracted, all through the blessing and grace of God. In fact, this Holy Name is often called upon in practices that aim at drawing in a soul of a higher grade with a specific root essence – a practice that may be taught to couples who are initiates by tzaddikim who have knowledge of souls and the mysteries of the arayot.

*For a simple explanation of the most basic mysteries of the arayot, see Jewish Meditation, by Aryeh Kaplan.

As a last word upon this Holy Name we may share one more open secret concerning it – the value of the Holy Letters equal that of Samek (60); this is the number of the Sefirot of Zer Anpin, and as a word Samek means “tent peg,” “pole” or “prop.” The meaning of Samek is often taken to allude to God, from whom all blessings come, who is our support, and it is connected to the Name of God spoken by Abraham when God provided a ram for sacrifice in place of Isaac, Yahweh Yireh, “Yahweh provides.”

*Yahweh Yireh is a Name of God that can activate this Holy Name in a special and powerful way.

A Meditation with the Name: Shattering Klippot of Ill-Fortune

When you are confronted by great ill-fortune, or find yourself amidst great trial and tribulation in life, do not fall into despair or loose faith, but cleave to the Messiah and Shekinah of Messiah, and trust in the Spirit of Yahweh to provide and to deliver you from the dire straight – purify yourself, going to the living waters and bathe, and put on the Blessed Name and rejoice in the presence of Yahweh, and call upon this Holy Name.

Go out and perform a water ceremony for self-purification, and whatever misdeeds you may have committed or whatever negativity you may have engendered, confess it in the presence of Yahweh and repent of it, turning away from the darkness to stand in the Holy Light of God – restore yourself to the Sanctuary of Grace.

Then, go and worship in the presence of Yahweh, rejoicing in the Spirit of Yahweh – call upon The Name and the Divine Powers, invite the Holy Shekinah, and make offerings, and pray in the Blessed Name for the dispelling of all klippot obstructing the flow of the blessings of El.

Cleave to the Middle Pillar, and reaching to the Pillar of Mercy, invoke the Holy Names of Yah, El and Yahweh Tzavaot; then descending from Eheieh, call upon the Name of Yahweh Yireh and then El Shaddai.

Rise up again to Tiferet and call upon Yahweh Yeshua Elohenu, and unify Elohim into El: Ao-Ah-Lo-La-Ha-Ya-Ma

When you have done this, envision the Three Holy Letters of the Name, and chant the Name: Ka-La-Yo, and then unify it with Shaddai: Sha-Ka-Da-La-Ya-Yo.

Then, descending with the power of the Name, intone: Adonai Melekh.

When you have done this, celebrate a Holy Wedding and speaking from Eheieh in fruition; let Ruach Ha-Kodesh speak what will transpire.

Partaking of the bread and wine, partake for all beings and pray for all beings – that all might be healthy and happy, successful and prosperous.

The Wedding Feast completes the movement – trust in Yahweh to provide!

This is the practice.

A Practice among the Navim: Influx of Souls

At times tzaddikim and navim will pray for an influx of souls of a higher grade into the world, when they do in their prayers they may invoke this Holy Name of God.

In the midst of their prayers and meditations, cleaving to Da’at they will reach into Binah, and they will unify Yah into Elohim: Ah-Ya-Lo-Ha-Ho-Ya-Mo, and unifying the Names of Yah and Elohim they will unify Yahweh into Elohim, Elohim standing in the place of Adonai: Ah-Ya-LoHi-Ho-Vo-Ya-Hu-Mo.

Having unified the Names they will speak their prayer for the influx of luminous souls in the next generation and then they will intone the Name: Ya-Ko-Ha-Lo-Va-Yo-Hu, followed by the Holy Name: Ka-La-Ya.

When they have done this, they will focus their prayers on the continued incarnation and emanation of tzaddikim and maggidim in the world, and they will focus their prayers upon the preservation of the Continuum of Light Transmission in the world until all is accomplished.

Then they will descend bringing down the blessings invoked, and they will worship in the presence of Yahweh, celebrating a Holy Wedding Feast. This completes the movement.

This is the practice.

Another Mystery of the Name

It is given that we might speak another mystery of this Holy Name – these Holy Letters form the word Keli, meaning “instrument,” “tool” or “vessel”; and thus it may be called upon in prayers offering oneself up as an instrument in the hand of God or as a vessel of the presence and power of God. Likewise, the meaning of the word as tool or vessel also directly relates to the play of ivurim, mentioned above.

On a most esoteric level, this is a Holy Name connected with the creation of the legendary golem spoken of in the Sefer Yetzirah – but this is neither the time nor the place to speak of this mystery in any detail.

*For insight into the golem, see Sefer Yetzirah, by Aryeh Kaplan.

Angels of the Name

Kokhviel, L’mimael and Y’maniel are the angels of this Holy Name, they come from the order of Elim and hold secret knowledge of manipulations of the Sphere of Fate.

This concludes our sacred discourse on the Eighteenth Name of Gevurot – the blessing of good fortune to speak of such holy mysteries comes from Divine Providence, thanks be to El, Hallelu El – Praise God! Amen.

The Eighteenth Name of Hasidim: Ayn-Kaf-Shin

We often speak of our service to heaven and service to God, or of putting on the yoke of heaven – in order to serve heaven and God we must have some insight or vision of what “heaven” and “God” is, and likewise to put on the “yoke of heaven,” we must know what it is. We may glean much from spiritual teachings on service to heaven and God, and we may glean much from the Scriptures on the subject, and the intelligence of our heart, our faith, and our fear and love of Yahweh, will instruct us; yet, when we have insight into the service of heaven and God in this way, we may seek even deeper knowledge and understanding through luminous dreams and visions, and through direct illuminations of Ruach Ha-Kodesh – and for this we may call upon this Holy Name of God.

Of course, it isn’t just an issue of what service to heaven and to God is in general, but it is an issue of how we are called to the service of heaven and God, the spiritual labor in the harvest of souls to which we are specifically called. Truly, we have every reason to seek a direct revelation from the Spirit of God concerning our call and our service – and along the way we often have reason to seek clarification or even a new direction or new work. Thus we may wish to call upon this Name of God to gain insight into the specific service to which we are called in the Holy Spirit.

In this Holy Name is the power to know and remember our soul’s purpose and mission.

When we know and remember our soul’s purpose and mission in this life, we may also experience another great blessing, which is also part of the power in this Holy Name – we may gain insight into our life from the perspective of an inner or higher aspect of our soul, whether from ruach or our holy neshamah. If we gain insight into our life from the perspective of our holy neshamah, we may even gain some remembrance of previous incarnations of our soul-stream, and gain insight into the relationship between those incarnations and our present life, and in this we may see a reflection of God’s will for us.

There is also another significant power in this Holy Name – those of us who are devotees of the Holy Mother and Bride, the Divine and Sacred Feminine, often pray to behold the Holy Mother and Bride in all of her forms and emanations; in this Holy Name is the power of exactly that – the vision of the Holy Mother and Bride in her fullness, in all of her forms and emanations.

Through this Name of God we may invoke a vision of the fullness of the Tree of Life; likewise, it is a Name that corresponds to the fullness of the Holy Shekinah.

A Meditation with the Name: Taking up the Yoke of Heaven

If you find that you have taken up the yoke of the world in place of the yoke of heaven, or in desiring to take up the yoke of heaven you seek insight into the service to heaven and God to which you are called, then purify yourself, put on the Blessed Name and establish yourself in the Sanctuary of Grace, and call upon this Holy Name.

Go into your secret room and abide in perfect communion – and when the Spirit moves you, pray to Hayyah Abba in the Blessed Name of Yeshua Messiah, offering yourself and your life into the service of heaven, and offering yourself in this way, pray for knowledge and understanding of the service to which you are call. Let prayers of your heart be spoken, and pray for a dream or vision of heaven and God, or for an illumination by the Holy Spirit, so that having knowledge and understanding of your service, you might also have knowledge of heaven and God – full empowerment for your spiritual labor or service.

Then, when you have prayed in this way, intone Eheieh Yahweh Yeshua, and then intone the Holy Name: Ai-Ko-Sha; when you intone this envision an influx of Divine Light from above and then abide in perfect communion waiting upon the Spirit of God.

Do this as many times as it takes to receive and answer – adding this to your daily prayers and practice; and in every session, whether or not you receive your answer, give praise and thanks and worship in the presence of Ha-Shem, and pray for the illumination of all living spirits and souls.

As is well known with this kind of spiritual practice, the answer may very well come at some time following your prayer and invocation rather than during the actual session – in any case, if you ask in faith and your request is sincere, an answer will come in due season.

This is the practice.A Practice among the Navim: Seeing the Holy Mother and Bride

If you want to see the Mother and Bride, take up a continuum of self-purification and intensify your worship in the Shekinah of Yahweh Elohim – celebrate the mysteries of Imma and Kallah, and enflame yourself with prayer, and invoke the Holy Shekinah often; burn with the divine passion to know her and to love her in full, and to be known and loved by her; be a lover of Kodesh Imma and Kodesh Kallah.

Taking up a continuum like this, when the vision-bringers wish a revelation of the fullness of the Mother and Bride, they will go out to a sacred and holy place in the wilderness – a place beloved to her, and on the full moon they will create a sacred circle, consecrating the sacred circle to the Holy Mother and Bride.

*At times they may create their sacred circle surrounding a great tree – but not a lone tree in a desolate place; rather a tree that is sacred and that has a luminous and righteous spirit.

In the sacred circle they will call upon the Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother, the Spiritual Son and Mother Spirit, and they will call in the Divine Powers – making offerings, they will then invoke the Seven Faces of Kallah, the Shekinah of Messiah, and the three bright and three dark emanations, and they will unite themselves with all of them by performing a Union with Our Lady in Red, cleaving to the Shekinah of Messiah in this way.

As the Holy Shekinah of Messiah they will ascend the Ladder of Lights rung by rung, joining their soul with each rung in ascent; when they arrive at Eheieh, they will turn their mind to Kodesh Imma, and they will invoke the bright and dark faces of the Holy Mother, as only her Holy Daughter can.

Then, they will call upon Ruach Elohim and upon the Holy Name of Elohim Hayyim, and then they will unify Elohim into Adonai: Ah-Ah-Da-La-Na-Ha-Ya-Ya-Ma.

When they have done this, with the conscious intention of visions of the fullness of the Holy Shekinah (Shekinah Imma and Shekinah Kallah) they will intone the Name: Ai-Ka-Sha, and they will gaze, looking and seeing, knowing the Mother and Bride in Union.

It may be that visions of the many emanations of the Mother and Bride come swiftly like thunder, or it may be that aspects of the Mother and Bride play in your soul, in effect “wearing you,” or it may be that the Holy Shekinah comes to rest upon you and Ruach Ha-Kodesh takes you up, leading you in ecstatic worship and prophecy in the Mother and Bride – in many different ways the Mother Spirit may respond, including a great influx of the Mother’s Force, the Holy Light from above.

So, too, the Mother Spirit may move in subtle and sublime ways – there is no telling how she may move or what she may do; in any case, let her carry you where she will and reveal herself as she wills – entertain the dance of the Holy Shekinah in the power of the moment.

Worship as inspired in the presence of Imma Elohim and pray for all your relations – all living spirits and souls, as well as for the dead.

Then, completing the movement, celebrate a Holy Wedding Feast focusing upon the mysteries of God the Mother (Elohim Imma) and the Anointed Bride (Kallah Messiah).

This is the practice.

*As you might guess, this is a practice taught in the Order of St. Mary Magdalene, as well as in the Orders of St. Uriel and St. Gabriel.

Angels of the Name

The angels of this Holy Name are A’ yoshael, Kehaliel and Shuazael; they are said to come from a secret order of holy angels that have intimate knowledge of the Mother and Bride – some have called them the “Princesses” veiling the name of their secret order.

This concludes our sacred discourse on the Eighteenth Names of Gevurot and Hasidim through the blessing and grace of God; Hallelu Elohim – Praise God! Amen.

O Elohim Hayyim, we bless Your Name and pray for the glorification of Your Name – may Your blessings and grace continue to flow with us and pour out through us; may we be blessed to be of benefit to beings, blessed to serve in the harvest of souls, and may our service be empowered and accomplished by Your Holy Ruach. Amen.

While this Name of God does not carry that specific meaning of that word for a ‘viper’ in that it forms the beginning of that word there is an allusion to other dimensions of knowledge and power associated with this Holy Name going beyond what we have already share. God willing, we may look into this to see what insight might be given to us.

First, perhaps you may recall that among the order of the serafim there are those that assume the form of various heavenly and celestial serpents, from great ‘dragons’ to various ‘fiery serpents,’ such as those that came as a judgment upon the children of Israel in the wilderness when they complained against the Eternal One and the Prophet. The connection with this Name of God and this word points to a connection of this Name with knowledge of the serafim.

As perhaps you may also recall, as the kerubim worship in the exterior Shekinah the serafim worship in the interior Shekinah, and understanding this you will understand that in a full revelation of the Divine Presence, the ‘Mother’ and ‘Bride,’ there would be an involvement of the serafim, certainly so!

Also, understand that luminous dreams and visions of the kingdom of heaven always involve a stirring and uplifting of the ‘serpent power,’ the Shekinah, Holy Spirit, catching ‘hold,’ as it were, of the serpent power and drawing it in ascent as with the soul. Thus, this is among the Holy Names that may ‘stir’ the ‘fire snake,’ the ‘serpent power.’

Understanding the Ayn of this Name as desire, Kaf as abundant energy and blessings, and Shin as the unification of one’s desire energy (serpent power) with the Holy Shekinah, so perhaps you may see a special kavvanah or point of focus in the invocation of this Name of God for the awakening and uplifting of the serpent power, bearing in mind the teaching of Adonai Yeshua likening the Son of the Human One to the ‘serpent uplifted by Moses in the wilderness.’

As you likely may intuit this is also a Name of God that holds a power of mercy that manifests as deliverance from unclean and evil spirits, and so it is that those having knowledge of the way of exorcism may call upon this Holy Name if they see the need for it.

May we be blessed to behold the revelation of the fullness of the Divine Presence and to gaze upon the the glories of the face of God (El, Elohim)! Amen.